January Card Spending Volume Exceeds 1.9 Trillion Lira: BKM Data Released

Annual Increase of 43.5% in Card Transaction Volume According to data released by the Interbank Card Center (BKM), the number of domestic transactions using local credit cards increased by 9 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 975.6 million.
The total transaction volume rose from 1.389 trillion TL to 1.9 trillion TL, recording an annual growth of 43.5 percent.
Changing Cash Withdrawal Habits A notable shift was observed in cash usage data.
The number of domestic cash withdrawal transactions made with local credit cards decreased from 16.3 million to 13.8 million.
In contrast, the total amount of cash withdrawn rose from 68.4 billion TL to 78.1 billion TL.
Experts attribute the increase in volume despite the drop in transaction count to the ongoing liquidity needs of households and the rise in average withdrawal amounts.
Debit Cards and International Spending International spending saw a sharp increase of approximately 75 percent, driven by exchange rate effects and travel demand.
On the debit card side, the number of transactions reached 787.5 million, while the transaction amount increased by 38.7 percent to 813.8 billion TL.
Changes in Card Numbers Looking at the total number of cards, credit cards increased by 10 percent to 143.4 million, and debit cards increased by 8 percent to 210.9 million.
However, prepaid cards saw a 2 percent decrease, falling to 110.6 million.
Impact of Inflation on Transaction Data BKM data indicates that the high increase in transaction volume compared to the limited rise in the number of transactions reflects the significant impact of price increases on spending data.